Terrible weather hitting the Hawaiian islands and Southern California. Nicholas Cage’s driveway collapsed. CCer’s in Hawaii and SoCal please check in. And folks in SF without air conditioning, it looks like the heat wave is finally going to abate.
There are a lot of storms that seem to head across the LA area but bypass SD completely. It was warm and sunny; wind is picking up. There were big puffy white clouds low on the horizon. There have been big swells and rip tides so alerts for beach goers and surfers.
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I live very close to the Long Beach Peninsula which was hit hard on Sunday night. There is flooding there maybe every 5-8 years. But this is the first time the boardwalk and homes were hit by waves.
For those who don’t know LB, we have a breakwater about 1 mile from shore which was built to create a harbor to protect the US fleet in WWII. So we generally have very low surf, maybe 1-2 foot waves at most.
I frequently swim with a group of friends in the ocean along the peninsula. In fact we swam out there on Saturday just before the storm watching the dozens of vehicles building up the sand berms along that entire stretch.
As an ocean swimmer, I always respect the power of the ocean. But the force of the swell on Sunday night at high tide was unbelievable. By Monday when I walked down to see if a friend needed help, the waves had swept away the entire beach (usually there is about 30 feet of sand to the water) leaving exposed rocks and old pilings.
My friend and his wife live in a third floor apartment and somehow even his garage is spared from flooding.
It will be a huge and expensive project to rebuild the beach and boardwalk. It really feels like those homes are perpetually in danger due to the rising sea level.
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My older daughter lives in San Diego. She and her husband just moved in July to a house with air conditioning. With all the heat there lately, she is so thankful (their old place only had a/c in the master bedroom). That said, their neighborhood has lost power four times in the last month, including last night so she was sweltering in the current temps.
I’ve been watching the reports from Kauai. Coincidentally, the same daughter mentioned above was there for two weeks in April and stayed in Poipu where there has been a lot of destruction. The Hawaiian islands have really been getting hit with terrible storms this summer!
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Our friend was too busy to run the Kauai marathon this year. The start and finish are in Poipu (I ran it a while ago and really enjoyed it despite the brutal heat). She thanked her lucky stars that she had not registered and traveled as the race was cancelled! First time in its history, I believe.
I saw @HawaiiMom post elsewhere that she was OK.
Oahu was mostly spared. Princeville (where much of Jurassic Park was filmed) with majestic trees has been decimated and it will take a lot of work to clear all the fallen trees and vegetation. The large majority of Kauai was without power and much of the parts of the island away from where we live on Oahu lost power.
Oahu and Kauai canceled public schools and most government offices were closed today so there could be a good assessment of damage & next steps.
The one river in Kauai went from 3 or so feet deep to 19’ and more in hours and of course caused great flooding.
We are still getting reports and videos/photos of damage.
Hawaii Foodbank would appreciate any donations. They are a 501c3 charity, so donations to them are tax deductible and if you do a Qualified Charitable Deduction from your traditional IRA, it reduces your annual Required Minimum Distribution and is a tax efficient way to donate.
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Thank you, @HImom. We regularly donate because it is the least we can do when traveling to the islands. Other than being respectful of the area, spending money at the local businesses (and buying local groceries at stores) and staying the heck out of roads to ease the traffic for those who have to commute.
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Here’s a video of some of the Princeville damage.
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And some incredible footage showing the power of the waves in Long Beach. Again this is inside a breakwater so a relatively sheltered area.
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Members of our family will be on the W coast of Oahu in 2 mos. It looks like it was pretty spared from this storm, fortunately. We were on Kauai a few years ago. So sad to see the damage today.
Makaha (west Oahu) had some damage, so it might be good to confirm that all is well or consider adjusting plans.
They are going to Kapolei
Haven’t heard of any problems at Kapolei. It’s a lovely area.
I live in Orange County. The big waves were crazy! But I missed the rain because I was in San Diego for a tennis tournament. We are dying with this heat (and humidity). We don’t have air-conditioning (we usually only have a couple bad days a year) and this summer has been brutal. We have spent several wonderful vacations in Poipu and I am so sad to see all the damage. This El Niño year seems like it is going to be a doozy.
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Here’s a listing of how to help Kauai (in addition to Hawaii Foodbank):
This discussion brought back memories of our stay at the Poipu Beach Resort in 1985. It was subsequently wiped off the map by Hurricane Iniki in 1992.
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Our first visit to Poipu was in 2001 and they were still recovering from Iniki
Same here… went to Kauai in 2000. There were reminders of that beast of a storm in Poipu area.
We have stayed in the same unit of a condo complex in Kauai probably 5-ish times, and are scheduled to stay there in January. Unfortunately, the storm totally flooded the first floor units, and the beach wall that used to be in front of the place appears to be gone. Of course we are disappointed we won’t be able to stay there, but I really feel for the owners. I hope they were insured.
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We went to Koloa landing 2 years ago. Hope it is ok